AuthorTopic: Something To Smile About (Read 2100 times)

No need to stop asking questions, and no need to refer to them as coming from a "rube." You see, I learn from those exchanges too -- I learned the word "rube" today

Yes, you can mitigate the effect by blurring the area. But before PS (hmmm, sounds positively primordial, doesn't it?) the only way to get a good bokeh was to select a lens with it. It still matters, if you have a choice.

Thanks, I was trying to be funny, again The thread was very helpful, the discussion as well as the many examples. There was one with a Hassleblad of the dad and child towards the end where I had the ah hah! The only reason I am back into photography is because of PS. The chemical darkroom nearly killed me. Thanks again.

Seamus, you really have a great eye for street shooting as well as for capturing the amusing side of things, your work is always very good, but this one I think is the best I have seen yet. I also love how you work your monos.

I agree with SB that the bins are a little distracting, but not before he'd been pointed them out to me, but for my mind the content of the image is just so good that it overcomes that minor distraction completely.

On a side note, and not a criticism of the OP photograph, I can see how a bad bokeh can impact a photograph. Just above the sitting guy's head there is that harsh rendering of OOF areas that I find rather distracting.

About the bokeh, you would think it was the product of a poor lens but that's not the case - I used the Fujinon XF35mm (=50), one of their best primes for the Fuji X Pro1, in very poor light at ISO 1000, wide open at f1.4, high shutter speed. The bokeh produced by this lense is usually superb.

I took a shot, lowered the camera slightly and then the artist looked down at whatever is in his hand (the fee?) and produced this strange, satisfied, almost triumphant smile, not directed in the slightest at me. Very fast, deliberately aiming for the portrait and hoping for a soft rendition of the two guys, I took another shot and moved on, without ever exchanging a word with either of them. No high art involved here, I'm sorry to say - just pure raw instinct.